Center on Deafness and Hearing Loss
The Center on Deafness and Hearing Loss (COD)
is administered within the Department of Special
Education-College of Education at Eastern Kentucky
University. It represents a collaborative effort
between the Center and a number of internal and external
partners to blend their unique resources for the
continuous improvement of interrelated services to deaf
and hard of hearing individuals.
Internal EKU partners are the College of Education and
other colleges, divisions, and programs across the
University who educate and/or serve students and the EKU
community at-large. Internal partners will develop
projects and alliances to accomplish the mission of
serving the citizens of the Commonwealth of Kentucky
through instruction, public service, and research.
Ongoing internal partnerships include:
- Department of Special Education
- Office of Student Judicial Affairs &
Services for Disabled Students, and
- Department of Psychology
External partners include:
- Kentucky Department of Vocational Rehabilitation
Deaf & Hard of Hearing Services,
- Kentucky Department of Education
- Division for Exceptional Children
Services
- Kentucky School for the Deaf (Statewide
Educational Resource on Deafness)
- Kentucky Department for Mental Health and Mental
Retardation
- Division of Mental Health Services for
Deaf and Hard of Hearing, and
- Kentucky State Outreach & Technical
Assistance Center (Jefferson County).
Interconnected to this list of partners if the University
of Louisville (U of L), with whom EKU has established a
Memorandum of Agreement that allows EKU to offer ASL,
deaf culture, and interpreting courses on the main
University of Louisville campus. EKU faculty
teaches these courses, and EKU staff manages the on-site
sign language lab. These courses, combined with U
of L's general education curriculum, lead to students
earning a bachelor's degree in Interpreter Training from
EKU.
Educational and career opportunities for deaf and
hard of hearing individuals are made possible through
providing access to educational settings; by training
qualified personnel; by providing technical support and
auxiliary aides; by adding to knowledge through research
and networking to avoid unnecessary duplication of
services; and by making judicious use of fiscal
resources.
The Center on Deafness will work closely with academic
partners and non-academic partners to serve as a catalyst
and conduit for the development of innovative
programming, training, research and networking.
Eastern Kentucky University is Kentucky's prominent
university in the fields of deaf education and
interpreter training, and the Center's goal is to bring
together the resources of EKU and its partners in order
to assist individuals, agencies and the Commonwealth in
furthering the education, career and life goals of deaf
and hard of hearing children and adults.
Eastern Kentucky University will collaborate with its
partners in pursuing and developing affiliations for the
Center on Deafness through the following avenues.
Grant Writing and Research
The Center on Deafness (COD) will seek funding to support
innovative training, research and development activities;
and the COD will work to expand the growing body of
knowledge related to ASL, interpreter training,
vocational rehabilitation, education, social services,
communication, mental health and technology.
Education and Training
The COD will work with academic partners and affiliates
to support pre-service and in-service educational
training activities in the Commonwealth, including
workshops, seminars, and the hosting of local, state,
regional and national conferences.
Consultation and Outreach
The COD will provide educational support services,
technological training, coordination of interpreting
services and consultation across a variety of
settings. These settings would include agencies,
entities and the K-Higher Education environment.
Collaboration and Referral
The COD, working closely with the University of
Louisville, the Kentucky Department of Education, the
Kentucky School for the Deaf, state/federal agencies,
and/or related state and local professional deafness
related entities, will combine and share resources and
expertise in order to enhance the lives and careers of
deaf and hard of hearing individuals.
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CENTER ON DEAFNESS &
INTERPRETER EDUCATION MISSION
The
expected outcomes of the Center on Deafness &
Interpreter Education are that the lives and careers of
deaf and hard of hearing individuals will be
enhances. The impact of training activities,
resource development, research and networking of services
through the Center on Deafness & Interpreter
Education will have a positive influence on the attitude
of agencies and educational settings that serve, and
ultimately businesses that hire, deaf and hard of hearing
people. Overall, deaf and hard of hearing consumers
will experience more avenues for success and sharing in
the opportunities of the American society.
For more information,
please contact us at:
Center on Deafness & Interpreter Education
Wallace Building, Room #215
Eastern Kentucky University
521 Lancaster Avenue
Richmond, KY 40475-3102
(859/622-8156) v/tty (859/622-2573)
fax
